Author: Chief Editor

President Muhammadu Buhari last night said he is proud of his Chief of Staff, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, describing him as “a remarkable public servant who has put his vast experience and knowledge to the service of the world.” According to a statement by presidential spokesman, Malam Garba Shehu, on the occasion of Gambari’s 76th birthday anniversary, Buhari said “I am proud of his accomplishments as a senior diplomat.” Extolling his Chief of Staff, President Buhari said: “It’s impossible to interact with Gambari without being impressed by his erudition and colossal experience in his chosen career. “Having worked with Prof. Gambari…

•Guarantees regular salary payment The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, yesterday in Abuja, said there is no plan to review the 2021 budget currently before the National Assembly. She has also allayed the fears of federal civil servants that the country’s entering into recession might stall salary payments of workers. Briefing journalists after the weekly virtual Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting in the State House, Ahmed said even the consequential adjustment in the 2020 budget wholly addressed salary matters. “On the 2021 budget, we are not planning to retrieve the budget or to reverse the…

The Senate will today screen Prof. Mahmood Yakubu following his nomination as Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for a second term of five years by President Muhammadu Buhari. This is a sequel to the directive of the President of the Senate, Dr. Ahmad Lawan, at Senate plenary yesterday, directing the Senate Committee on INEC to screen Yakubu. The committee has one week to submit its report. Yakubu will be screened along with another nominee, Prof. Abdullahi Zuru, who has been appointed as national commissioner in the commission. Gaya yesterday informed reporters of the planned screening of Yakubu…

Argentine football legend Diego Maradona has died at the age of 60, his spokesman announced Wednesday. Renowned along with Brazil’s Pele as one of the greatest footballers of all time, the Argentine World Cup winning captain died of a heart attack, having undergone brain surgery earlier this month, a member of his entourage told AFP. President Alberto Fernandez immediately announced three days of national mourning in the South American country. Shortly before the announcement that shocked a nation, Argentine media reported Maradona had suffered a serious health setback on Wednesday and was being treated by doctors at his home north…

Jide Ojo “The collapse in oil prices coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to plunge the Nigerian economy into a severe economic recession, the worst since the 1980s, according to the latest World Bank Nigeria Development Update”  – World Bank in a release on June 25, 2020. What initially was predicted by the World Bank in June this year has now been officially confirmed by the National Bureau of Statistics. Nigeria has for the second time in five years slipped into economic recession, the worst in about 40 years. The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), had first…

The media, bar its conservative flank, is the hero in resolving the nearly constitutional impasse from the 2020 presidential election between incumbent President Donald Trump and challenger, Joe Biden, who has so far garnered 306 of the 538 Electoral College electors. The CNN, leading international television network, is emerging as a guiding light in the desperate effort to uphold America’s rule of law as the legal and moral standard of the 2020 presidential election. Oxford English Dictionary defines rule of law as “the authority and influence of law in society, especially when viewed as a constraint on individual and institutional…

Tayo Oke drtayooke@gmail.com Take a note of this statement: “I want to humbly express my profound gratitude to Mr. President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, for his continued and invaluable support to the Nigerian Army in the discharge of its constitutional roles. Therefore, I wish to pledge the commitment and unalloyed loyalty of officers and soldiers of the Nigerian Army to the President and the defence of our democracy”. Compared to this: “We are unique among militaries. We do not take an oath to a king or a…

A nervy Paris Saint-Germain were outplayed for long spells but held on after an early Neymar penalty to beat RB Leipzig 1-0 on Tuesday and revive their Champions League campaign. Last season’s runners-up had lost two of their opening three matches in Group H and would have been staring at an early exit from the competition had they lost again to the Germans behind closed doors at the Parc des Princes. Yet Neymar’s 11th-minute spot-kick proved enough for a PSG side struggling with injuries and suspensions, as Leipzig failed to convert any of the chances that came their way. “We…

South-south governors and other stakeholders from the geopolitical zone yesterday in Port Harcourt met with a presidential delegation led by the Chief of Staff to the President, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, and demanded restructuring of the country to ensure “true federalism” and guarantee peace, security and stability of the country. They also demanded the relocation of the headquarters of all subsidiaries of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to the region. Calling for the revitalisation of the region’s Calabar, Port Harcourt and Warri ports, they also demanded the immediate privatisation of the nation’s refineries to make them functional and boost the…

South Korea appears to have decided to withdraw its Minister of Trade, Ms. Yoo Myung-hee, from the race for the World Trade Organisation (WTO) director-general, paving the way for Nigeria’s candidate, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, to be confirmed as the head of the global trade body. Washington Trade Daily (WTD) in a report in its Monday edition, which THISDAY obtained yesterday, quoted people familiar with the development to have said that South Korea was expected to announce its decision to withdraw Myung-hee shortly, to enable the WTO’s General Council appoint Okonjo-Iweala. The international trade news medium also announced on its Twitter…